Introduction to Yang Style Tai Chi

TAI CHI

Introduction to Yang Style Tai Chi

M a s t e r S i m o n Wo n g

INTRODUCTION

PREFACE

When people

ask me the

d i f f e r e n c e

b e t w e e n

Karate and Kung Fu, I often

quip, with all due respect, that

Karate is stiff and Japanese and

Kung Fu is loose and Chinese.

Several months into my Kung

Fu training at the Yellow Dragon

Centre it was emphasised that I

should begin to learn Tai Chi as

well, as I was getting too rigid. I

was learning fairly well about the

economy of movement - a block

and strike in one - but I needed to

become more like a supple reed,

and not like a brittle wood which

does not bend but breaks. While

part of what makes Yellow

Dragon Fist Kung Fu unique is

that it incorporates elements of

Yang Family Tai Chi, clearly I

was becoming unbalanced. I had

been seeking overall balance in

my hurried life when I very first

came to the Centre. Now it was

time to balance what I was

learning inside the Centre.

The Tai Chi class began

similarly to the Kung Fu class.

We closed our eyes, and with the

scent of incense buoyed along by

the breeze and trickling water

from the aquariums around the

room and our feet on the wood

warehouse floor, we began our

Chi Kung breathing (legs gently

bent, arms around a tree). We

tapped into something so soft and

simple that it's overlooked by

many people. I do not know how

many breaths I have left, but

hopefully more than I can count.

All of my breaths (from the

stomach through the nose) now

add to my health and don't

borrow from it - and that is a hint

of eternity.

Imagine doing something as

slowly, slowly as possible.

Whether we think of it as kinetics

or aesthetics, the timeless Tai Chi

walk gives us a much better

understanding of the balance,

grace and power of our own

gravity and energy. With the

outside world moving so fast,

internal equilibrium comes from

slowing down at times. Knee-

jerk movements can be necessary

(indeed Kung Fu teaches us new

instincts in this sense), and from

them we learn that unthinking

movement is possible. But so

refreshingly clear yet focused is

the mind and body that we can be

moving at a barely discernible

speed without thinking about it at

all. As the years and world flash

by it becomes more and more

important to lose oneself at times

in the slowness of one's actions.

Sifu Wong's most impressive

movement, I believe, is a pushing

of the arms straight out in front

as he steps. The sound he gets

from the air is as a master to a

wind instrument.

With the Yang Family form we

try to float in and carve out the

air around us. We can only

attempt to get Sifu's sound out of

the air by totally relaxing and

then snapping forward. And we

can only correctly arrive at this

rather sudden movement by

warming up internally with these

slow beginnings. Forget about

muscle and lungs, heaving and

deliberate. Breathing out from

the stomach through the nose at

the same time that we step, with

our tendons whipping forward is

true power and not mere

exertion.

The Yellow Dragon arts

practiced in a balanced

environment are in part what

good music should be: tight but

loose.

Dr Clinton Orr Ph.D.

Graduate of Cambridge

University, Tai Chi and Kung

Fu student of Master Wong for

many years.

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INTRODUCTION

The origins of Tai Chi

According to one

well-known story,

Tai Chi Chuan

was the invention

of the Taoist martial artist Chan

Sang-Feng, inspired by

observing a battle between a

crane and a snake over a morsel

of food. Each time the crane

lunged for the snake, it would

coil back out of reach. Each time

the snake extended itself in a

counter-attack, the bird

would step back and

sweep the attacker

away with its wings.

According to various

commentators, Chan

Sang-Feng was a Taoist

monk of the Wudang

temple in western China,

and may have lived at some

time from 970 to 1450 AD.

Others have maintained that

there was no such individual, and

different Tai Chi schools and

styles have their own favourite

theory or founder legend. In any

case, it is almost certainly not the

case that Tai Chi Chuan was the

‘invention’ of any one historical

or mythical figure. What Chan

Sang-Feng did, if it was he, was

rather to draw upon and bring

together a number of ancient

traditions of martial arts, exercise

systems, and methods of spiritual

cultivation.

Of these we can point in

particular to the ‘hard style’

Kung Fu fighting systems of the

Buddhist monks of the Shaolin

temple, and the chi kung

techniques of breath control and

of ‘marrow washing and sinew

training’. By the time of Chan

Sang-Feng,

these chi gung techniques had

been developed by the Shaolin

monks and by Taoist masters, in

Wudang mountain and

elsewhere, to a very deep level.

They were practices that went

beyond strengthening the body -

they were intended to envigorate

the chi, prolong life, and aid the

ultimate goal of achieving

enlightenment. Again, the chi

gung and Kung Fu systems have

their own legendary origins - in

the Buddhist tradition, they are

traced back to the arrival from

India of Da Mo (Bodhidharma in

Sanskrit) at the Shaolin temple in

the sixth century AD. Although

the Da Mo story suggests the

influence of Indian yoga and

meditation practices, it is also the

case that there are earlier

mentions of indigenous Chinese

exercise systems, sometimes

based on the movements of

animals, and traditionally

reaching as far back as

the fabled Yellow

Emperor.

Coming back to

more recent history,

all the main styles of

the art we now know

as Tai Chi can be traced

to Chen village in Wen

county, Henan province.

Chen village, like many in

China, was so called because all

its inhabitants shared the

surname Chen, and the Chen clan

guarded their Tai Chi jealously

from outsiders. Although the

tradition is that Tai Chi was

taught to the Chen villagers by a

master trained in the lineage of

Chan Sang-Feng, and the

similarities between Tai Chi and

Wudang internal arts seem to

Introduction to Yang Style Tai Chi Master Simon Wong

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bear this out, there are others

who believe that Tai Chi was

indigenous to Chen village.

Whilst Chen style Tai Chi still

exists today, and is nowadays

taught outside the family village,

it was the development of the

new Yang style Tai Chi from the

Chen heritage that brought Tai

Chi to prominence in China, and

later generations of the Yang

family who brought the art to the

west.

Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan

The system

taught in this

book is a version of

Yang style Tai Chi

Chuan, of which

M a s t e r

Wong is a sixth generation

master. Although the style has

developed, and variants of it

have diverged as it has been

passed down through six

generations, it is still

recognisably the creation of its

founder Yang Liu-Sim (also

called Yang Lu-Chan, Yang Fu-

Kui). Yang Liu-Sim’s teacher

was Chen Chang Xin of Chen

village. According to one story,

Yang Liu-Sim (1799-1892) was

a poor farmer’s son who

obtained work as a servant in

Chen Chang Xin’s household

after hearing of the power of the

Chen family martial art. Yang

persuaded Chen Chang Xin to

teach him the art when, after

spying on the master training his

students at night, he was able to

demonstrate a higher level of

skill than any of the official

pupils. After years of study, Yang

returned to his home village of

Yung Nien where he acquired a

reputation as ‘Yang the

invincible’, defeating all

challengers yet baffling them

with the softness of the style. On

the basis of this reputation, Yang

was invited to teach at the

imperial court in Peking, where

he had the chance to test his style

against the greatest fighters from

all over China, and, so they say,

remained undefeated.

Master Wong’s lineage stems

from Yang Liu-Sim’s third son,

Yang Kim-Hou (also called Yang

Jian-Hou), who with his brother

Yang Ban-Hou continued to

teach the imperial court and

maintain their father’s legacy.

Yang Kim-Hou’s third son Yang

Cheng-Fu was another renowned

fighter who did much to

popularise Tai Chi in his travels

within China, and was also

invincible. In his public classes,

Yang Cheng-Fu taught a

simplified version of the original

Yang form, evenly paced and

without flying kicks and the

strength explosions (Fa Jing) that

are the summit of Tai Chi combat

training. This form is the

ancestor of most of the Yang

style Tai Chi taught today. Yang

Cheng-Fu’s oldest son was Yang

Shou-Chung (also

Yang Chen-

Ming), who

taught his

father’s style

widely from

his base in Hong Kong

and established the

International Tai Chi Chuan

Association (ITCCA). Master

Wong’s teacher was Master Chu

King-Hung, one of Yang Shou-

Chung’s three closest disciples

and his successor as head of the

ITCCA.

Darius Sokolov MSc

Graduate of LSE and Tai Chi

and Kung Fu student of Master

Wong for many years.

YELLOW DRAGON TAI CHI FAMILY TREE

CHEUNG SAN FUNG(960 - 1126AD)

VARIOUS TAOISTSDETAILS UNCERTAIN

CHEN CHANG-XING(CHEN STYLE) (1771 - 1853)

YANG LIU-SIM(YANG STYLE) (1799-1872)

YANG KIM-HOU(1839-1917)

YANG CHEN-FU (1883-1936)

YANG SOW-CHUN

CHU KIM-HING

MASTER SIMON WONG


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YANG CHEN-FU

CHU KIM-HING&SIMON WONG

This family tree includes only the main proponents of the style that we have knowledge of and is notintended to be comprehensive.

W A R M - U PE X E R C I S E S

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1 Stand relaxed, with your feet shoulder width apart and legs slightly bent. Your back should be straight with your hands relaxed and placed on your waist.

Turn your head slowly to the left then to the right, while keeping the rest of your body straight and facingforward. Repeat 10 times.

2 From the same position this time lower your head forward bringing your chin toward your chest, then slowly lift your head up and backward. Repeat 10 times.

WARM-UP EXERCISES


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3 Next, in the same stance rotate your head slowly in a circular motion clockwise 10 times then anti-clockwise 10 times.

T A I C H IC H I K U N G

TAI C

HI C

HI K

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Chi Kung isan ancientsystem of

deep breathingexercises. Its historycan be traced backover 3000 years toancient China.Through thedevelopment ofChi Kung,many seeminglyimpossible taskscan be achieved.These Chi Kungexercises willcause one’sh o r m o n esecretion toa c c e l e r a t e,e n h a n c i n gone’s health, energyand sexual prowess.With prolongedpractice one will beable to enjoywarmth, prolongedlife and regainyouthfulness.

Holding the Tai Chi Ball

Stand with your feet shoulder

width apart, arms relaxed at

your side. Your back should be

straight, knees slightly bent with

your head facing forward

(imagine being suspended by a

string from the top of your head)

and your body relaxed.

Slowly raise your arms in front

of you to shoulder height, with

elbows pointing out but down

slightly. Your palms should be

facing inward toward your chest,

with your fingers open slightly.

The posture should resemble

someone hugging a large tree.

It is important to keep the

shoulders relaxed as beginners

will naturally hunch their

shoulders using the shoulder

muscles to hold the posture. This

should be avoided and the whole

of your body should be kept

relaxed.

Once standing in the correct

posture you should then

concentrate on your

breathing. Keep your

mouth closed with your

tongue touching the roof

of your mouth (this is to

allow the chi to circulate

freely round the body).

When breathing in you

should breathe from the

stomach area and not the

chest. As you breathe in

the stomach is inflated and

when you breathe out the

stomach deflates.

This allows the breath to

reach the dantien area

(located a couple of inches below

the navel).

This exercise should initially

be be practiced for a couple of

minutes, increasing the more

you practice.

CHI KUNG BREATHING EXERCISES

WU CHI

By using the Yin to help theYang, and the Yang to help theYin, this exercise moves thechi and the blood throughoutthe whole of the body, andbuilds the store of chi in thedantien.

Men should begin with the left hand just below thebelly button with the right hand on top, womenwith left hand on top of right. Breathe aspreviously described.

From here bring your arms outward and upwards,breathing out.

Move your arms up past the chest...


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and begin to extend the arms from the elbow... ...until completely straight.

Move your arms inward, breathing in as you doso...


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...and back down towards the dantien...

...until back in the starting position.

The exercise should be done 7 times.


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T A I C H IE X E R C I S E S

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TRACING CLOUDS

A continuous flowingmovement that will gentlyexercise the wrists and spine,whilst aiding balance and co-ordination.

Start in a position with feet parallel, shoulder widthapart. Bring your left arm out to the left side, palmfacing you. Your right arm should be in front ofyour body, palm facing down. Your weight isshifted slightly onto your left leg, and your hipsturned 45˚.

Begin to move your left arm down slowly. At thesame time bring your right arm up, turning yourpalm to face your body.

As your arms move, follow your right hand withyour eyes and begin turning your body slowly tothe right.

Introduction to Yang Style Tai Chi Master Simon WongTA

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Continue this movement... ...turning your hips 45˚ to the right, shifting yourweight slightly onto your right leg. Your right armsmoves out to the right side of your body, palmfacing you, with your left arm moving in front ofyour body palm down.

From here the movement is repeated in reverse,turning your body to the left side whilst movingyour right hand down and your left hand up.


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37

Now repeat the movement a further 6 times.


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T A I C H I

S H O RT F O R M

TAI C

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50

1a Begin with your feet together. 1b Bow (right hand fist, left hand palm)

2a Open feet to your left, shoulder width apart. Make sure your feet are parallel. 2b Bring both arms up slowly...

TAI CHI SHORT FORM

2c ...keeping them relaxed... 2d ...until level with your shoulders, fingerspointing downward.

2e Now begin to lower your arms, with fingers pointing upwards. 2f As your hands pass your chest, bend your

knees slightly.


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3a Your right hand now comes around in a small clockwise circle and makes a fist. 3b Bring your left hand across to grip your

right wrist, with just the toe touching theground.

3c ...at the same time moving your left foot next to your right 3d At this point most of your weight is on the

right foot.


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4a Now step forward and outward with your left foot. 4b You should step so that your left foot is

shoulder width from your right, and thesame distance forward.

4c As you step, your left arm moves out in front of your body, slightly bent with palm

facing you; your right arm moves to the right sideof your body, palm facing the floor.

4d Your weight should be centred, your front leg bent so that your knee is over

your toe, and the back leg slightly bent.

Make sure that your shoulders are straight.


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5a Shift your weight onto your left leg... 5b ...turning your hips 90˚ to the right, with just the toe of your right foot touching the

ground.

5c As you turn, your hands come together... 5d ...“holding the ball” in front of your body.


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5e Now place the heel of your right foot where the toe had been, and transfer your

weight forward.

As you shift your weight, your left foot turns in45˚.

6a From here turn your hands so that the left palm is facing up, the right palm facing

down.

6b Your hands now move into the left side of your body... 6c ...as if you were pulling something

toward you.


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TAI CHI FORM

APPLICATIONS

Block punch

From form: move 2

Opponent punches, left arm. Bring your right arm up...

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TAI CHI FORM APPLICATIONS

...block, hitting the bottom of your opponent’s armwith the back of your hand to deflect the punch.

Jab with fingers into chest.


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Wrist Lock

From form: move 3

Opponent grabs your right arm with their rightarm.

Move your right arm up....


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and place your left hand on top of their hand,gripping tightly.

Bring right hand underneath opponent’s arm.

and apply downward pressure onto opponentswrist.

As opponent goes down, bring your knee into theirface.


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We hope you have enjoyed this free sample!

The complete book is 130 pages and includes thefollowing:

*The complete Yang Style Tai Chi form - 32 moves

*8 Chi Kung Deep Breathing Exercises to increase your energy,strengthen bones and keep intenal organs healthy

*4 Tai Chi Chi Kung Exercises to improve balance, co-ordination andhealth

*15 self defence applications from the Tai Chi form

The book is available in 3 formats:

1) a download from our website in PDF format2) high quality CD-ROM version, including the Tai Chi Form Video

3) printed version

for details of how to order, click here to go to our website

http://www.yellowdragon-tai-chi.co.uk/index_order.html

Master SimonWong is adistinguished

practitioner of both theinternal and externalChinese martial arts. Heis known and respectedthroughout the martialarts community. Throughhis teacher Chu King-Hung, he traces hislineage in Tai Chi Chuandirectly back to YangCheng-Fu, the founder ofthe modern version ofYang Style Tai Chi Chuan.

In this book Master Wong presents a Yang Style form,illustrated by numerous photographs and explained bymeans of step-by-step written instructions, thoughwithout unnecessary technicalities.

Also, he introduces the student to the self-defenceapplications of the form, again in a way which is practicaland easy to understand. Master Wong has an exceptionaltalent for making complex matters simple and accessible.

This book is the result of his many years experience. Itwill be a valuable asset to all practitioners of Tai ChiChuan, particularly those who do not have regular accessto a teacher.

www.yellowdragon.co.uk

Dr. R. W. Dyson is a graduate of Durham University,professional academic & author. He is a Tai Chi, Chi Kung &Self Defence Instructor under Master Wong, holds a 3rd Dan inKarate and is a practising Buddhist.

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Introduction to Yang Style Tai Chi